Ralph Nader Fast Facts

(CNN) — Here is a look at the life Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and former candidate for US president.

Personal

Birth date: February 27, 1934

Birth place: Winsted, Connecticut

Birth name: Ralph Nader

Father: Nathra Nader

Mother: Rose (Bouziane) Nader

Education: Princeton University, A.B., 1955, Harvard Law School, L.L.B., 1958

Military: US Army, 1959

Other Facts

Writer and attorney.

Green Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000; Independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.

Speaks Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.

Son of Lebanese immigrants.

Timeline

Early 1960s - Practices law in Hartford, Connecticut.

1961-1963 - Lectures at Hartford University.

1964 - Is hired by Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan as a consultant on auto safety.

1965 - Publishes “Unsafe at Any Speed,” an indictment of the auto industry in Detroit. Nader accuses car makers of putting style ahead of safety in the design of their cars. He focuses on the Chevrolet Corvair.

February 10, 1966 - Testifies before a Senate subcommittee on auto safety.

September 9, 1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law.

1967 - Lobbies Congress to pass the Wholesome Meat Act, increasing inspections of slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.

1967-1968 - Lectures at Princeton University.

1969 - Helps establish the Center for Study of Responsive Law, a non-profit studying consumer issues.

1970 - Settles a harassment lawsuit against General Motors. In March 1966, James Roche, then president of General Motors, apologized in front of the Senate for hiring private investigators to spy on Nader.

December 29, 1970 - Congress establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), following strong lobbying by Nader.

1971 - Founds Public Citizen Inc., a consumer lobbying group.

1971 - After the first Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are launched in Oregon and Minnesota, Nader co-authors, with Donald Ross, “Action for a Change,” a how-to guide for helping students establish state-based PIRGs.

August 19, 1996 - Is nominated as the Green Party’s candidate for president.

November 1996 - Receives 685,000 votes (.71%) in the presidential election.

June 25, 2000 - Is again nominated as the Green Party candidate for president.

November 2000 - Receives 2.8 million votes in the 2000 presidential election, approximately 2.75% of the vote. Is on the ballot in 33 states and the District of Columbia as the Green Party candidate and listed as an independent on ballots in eight states.

January 2001 - Establishes the League of Fans, a sports reform and advocacy project.

February 22, 2004 - Announces he is running for president as an independent.

August 9, 2004 - Two lawsuits are filed in Pennsylvania on behalf of Democratic voters challenging Nader’s petitions to get on Pennsylvania’s ballot, alleging that thousands of the signatures were forged or fictitious. In October, Nader is removed from the ballot. In January 2005, a judge orders Nader and his running mate, Peter Camejo, to pay over $80,000 in legal fees incurred by the group who challenged Nader’s petitions to get on the Pennsylvania ballot.

November 2, 2004 - Receives 411,304 votes in the presidential election. Nader is on the ballot in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

October 30, 2007 - Sues the Democratic National Committee, the Kerry-Edwards campaign, the PAC America Coming Together and others in District of Columbia Superior Court, alleging that they conspired to keep him off the ballot in several states and from “taking votes away” from nominee John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. In December, the case is dismissed.

February 24, 2008 - Nader announces that he is running for president as an independent.

February 28, 2008 - Nader chooses former San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.

May 2008 - Nader files an administrative complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Democratic National Committee and others saying they “conspired to deny him and his running mate ballot access in numerous states” in the 2004 general election. In June 2010, the complaint is dismissed. Nader then filed charges against the Federal Election Commission in DC federal court. In November 2011, Nader’s complaint is dismissed.

November 4, 2008 - Nader loses the presidential election.

November 2009 - Nader files a Superior Court lawsuit in Washington County, Maine against the Democratic National Committee, the Maine Democratic Party, the Kerry-Edwards campaign, and others alleging the defendants used illegal tactics to attempt to keep Nader off the ballot in Maine and other states. In November 2010, the case is dismissed. In April 2012, the dismissal is overturned. In September, Maine Superior Court Justice Kevin M. Cuddy rules that the lawsuit will go to trial. In May 2013, the Maine Supreme Court orders that lawsuit be dismissed.

March 19, 2014-present - Cohosts the Ralph Nader Radio Hour on Pacifica Radio Network.

April 29, 2014 - Publishes a new book, “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.”

September 27, 2015 - Nader opens the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, Connecticut, his hometown.

July 21, 2016 - Nader is inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

April 7, 2020 - “The Ralph Nader and Family Cookbook: Classic Recipes from Lebanon and Beyond” is published.

June 30, 2020 - In a New York Times letter to the editor, Nader reacts to an article condemning the Trump administration’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Nader calls for “President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to step aside and let professional public health specialists manage the federal effort against the Covid-19 pandemic.”

November 14, 2023 - Nader’s book “The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right” is published.

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